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Sunday, May 18, 2008

"Burke's efforts lead to biggest Catholic ordination class in decades"

Once or twice a year, each student at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary will drop by Archbishop Raymond Burke's residence in the Central West End at 4:30 p.m. Fromthere, they set off down Lindell Avenue and into Forest Park..

"The walks," as the seminarians call them, are opportunities for young men to have heart-to-hearts with a man who regularly meets with the pope, a headyprospect for a young priest-in-training. The conversations are usually casual, and the seminarians get to see a more personal, human side of Burke — like when he gets a little skittish around off-leash dogs.

Kenrick officials organize the walks using time sheets. When the sheets areposted, there's a rush to sign on.

"It's like when you throw pellets at the Japanese fish at the BotanicalGardens," said seminarian Edward Nemeth, 26. "Guys falling over each other toget their names on the list."

On Saturday, Nemeth and eight of his colleagues at Kenrick will be ordained aspriests in the St. Louis Archdiocese — the largest St. Louis ordination classin 25 years and one of the largest in the U.S. It's also the same number ofordinations in St. Louis as the last three years combined.

Since the 1980s, declining interest in the priesthood has been a growing crisisfor the Roman Catholic church in the U.S., a situation that was compounded bythe clergy sex-abuse scandal earlier this decade. One church study suggestedthat 80 percent of parents whose sons are considering the priesthood try todissuade them, fearing their child is entering a life of loneliness andunhappiness.

Burke is credited for helping to address such concerns at Kenrick. He is activein recruiting priests and knows the seminarians — their names, their lifestories, their joys and their fears. He's also a frequent visitor to theseminary, sometimes dropping by unannounced for lunch with the students.

"He's the center and the core of this whole thing," said the Rev. MichaelButler, the vocations director for the archdiocese.

The student body at Kenrick-Glennon, which includes the undergraduate Cardinal Glennon College and graduate-level Kenrick Theological Seminary, is 112 students, the largest enrollment in two decades and a 50 percent increase over last year.

Monsignor Ted Wojcicki, Kenrick-Glennon's president, said he hopes to enroll120 students next year, which would double the size of the seminary populationfrom a decade ago. Last year, the archdiocese announced plans to expand theseminary.

The archdiocese officially attributes its recent success with vocations — Latinfor vocare, which means, to call — to a higher power. More men are hearingGod's call to the priesthood, they say. But God has had a hand from Burke, whodecided vocations would be a high priority since he arrived in St. Louis in2004.

"A bishop's principal responsibility is to provide priests for the people inhis pastoral care," Burke said in an interview last week from Rome."Ordinations have to be absolutely right at the top of my priorities."

During a Vatican meeting just months before his death in 2004, Pope John PaulII told Burke and other Midwest bishops to do more to increase the number ofmen training for the priesthood.

"No one can deny that the decline in priestly vocations represents a starkchallenge for the church in the United States," the pope told the bishops.

John Paul was not exaggerating. The number of diocesan priests in the U.S. hasdeclined 22 percent since 1965, according to the Center for Applied Research inthe Apostolate at Georgetown University. In the same period, the number ofgraduate level seminarians has fallen 60 percent.

In 2005, the St. Louis Archdiocese estimated that by the end of 2008 it wouldhave only 230 active diocesan priests, down from 313. The number has decreased,but not as precipitously as predicted three years ago and stands at 286.

At Kenrick, it's not just Burke's involvement that is cited for the turnaroundin enrollment. The archbishop's conservatism, too, is an appealing aspect toyoung seminarians.

"The people who are attracted to the priesthood today tend to be much moreconservative than their peers," said the Rev. Thomas Reese of the WoodstockTheological Center in Washington. "Even in the 1950s, the people attracted toseminaries were more conservative than their peers, but not to the degree theyare today."

Seminarians say Burke's conservatism helps him connect with them. Theseminarians openly discuss how they see Burke as a spiritual father and embracethe traditional atmosphere Burke has championed in the archdiocese and theseminary.

Burke, for example, is considered one of the most devoted supporters of the oldLatin Mass among U.S. bishops, and last year, Kenrick began celebrating thetraditional liturgy on Fridays. More formal vestments are now required atmorning and evening prayers. Burke said such "little things" help him"encourage a strong identity among the seminarians, especially with thecelebration of the sacred liturgy."

Noah Waldman, 39, a former architect, was studying with a traditionalist groupof priests a number of years ago. Eventually, he felt called to be a diocesanpriest rather than part of an order. The problem, he thought, was that mostbishops would think he was too conservative.

"I was told there were two bishops in the U.S. who would be interested in me,"he said.

Burke, at that time the bishop of La Crosse, Wis., took Waldman in. Thearchitect entered the seminary but decided Wisconsin was not a good fit andapplied to a philosophy program in England. Burke "told me I was making a bigmistake," Waldman recalled.

After the death of Pope John Paul II, Waldman decided the priesthood was indeedhis calling, and Burke, since installed in St. Louis, invited Waldman toKenrick. "Because of his support, I was able to make it through," said Waldman,who will be ordained on Saturday.

Burke, however, plays down the notion that he's the main attraction. "Moretraditionalist men have come on their own; it's not that I've gone out to lookfor them," he said. "When men say they feel very confident in my leadership, Itell them that they have to come to the archdiocese of St. Louis becausethey're devoted to the archdiocese, not me."

Michael Houser, 26, began considering the priesthood when he was 13. He is theoldest of 10 children born to parents in Chesterfield who took their childrento Mass every Sunday and prayed the rosary together as a family every night.

The Housers were part of a lay group tied to the conservative Legion of Christcongregation of priests. Houser attended elementary school at Gateway Academy,run by the Legion of Christ in Chesterfield, then attended the Legion'sseminary high school in New Hampshire.

Houser decided the life of a diocesan priest fit him best. "It appealed to me alot to be able to have a connection to a particular diocese — there's morestability in diocesan priesthood," Houser said. "When Archbishop Burke came toSt. Louis, I was in my first year (at seminary), and he was a real godsend tome."

Butler, the head of the archdiocese's vocations office, said he doesn't like tothink of the call to the priesthood in terms of numbers, but the future of thearchdiocese necessitates it. Based on priests' rate of retiring and advancingage, the archdiocese needs to ordain about 10 to 12 men each year, Butler said.

To reach that goal, Butler said, the archdiocese needs to bring in 20 to 24 meneach year. That's about double the current level. Next year, the seminaryexpects a more typical ordination class of five, though with larger enteringclasses, the days of five-member ordination ceremonies might be a thing of thepast.

Nemeth remembered when Burke first got to St. Louis, the archbishop promised tomake the seminary the heart of the diocese. Nemeth believes Burke has made goodon that promise, and in doing so, has become "like a father" to the seminarians.

Nemeth said his most difficult moment at Kenrick-Glennon was when he was acollege sophomore during the clergy sexual abuse crisis that emerged in 2002."I remember being so angry at priests," Nemeth said. "Anywhere I went I feltlike I was under a microscope with people thinking, 'Is he one of them?'"

Strength, Nemeth said, came from watching Burke deal with controversy in thesucceeding years, an example the archbishop continues to set for futureseminarians.

"He stands for truth when he knows that's not going to be easy," Nemeth said,"so we know he'll support us when we have to do the same."

1 comment:

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

"Prayer itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation, strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call." Pope Benedict XVI

If you are looking for books or DVDs related to Roman Catholic Vocations, click on the image above and scroll down.

Cure of Ars Prayer Group Diocese of Raleigh (click on image)

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. 'Ah, Lord God!' I said, 'I know not how to speak; I am too young.' But the Lord answered me, Say not, 'I am too young.' To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." ~Jer 1:5-8

"All this serves as a reminder that God calls you to be saints, and that sanctity is the secret of real success in your priestly ministry. From this moment on, sanctity must be the final goal of all your choices and decisions. Entrust this desire and this daily commitment to Mary, Mother of Trust".

Pope Benedict XVI

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

“The pastoral care of vocations needs to involve the entire Christian community in every area of its life. Obviously, this pastoral work on all levels also includes exploring the matter with families, which are often indifferent or even opposed to the idea of a priestly vocation. Families should generously embrace the gift of life and bring up their children to be open to doing God's will. In a word, they must have the courage to set before young people the radical decision to follow Christ, showing them how deeply rewarding it is.”
Pope Benedict XVI
(Sacramentum Caritatis, 25)